The role of sportsmen in parliamentary election campaigns in Croatia from 2000 to 2015

Svrha ovog diplomskog rada bila je istražiti ulogu sportaša u parlamentarnim izbornim kampanjama u Hrvatskoj u periodu od 15 godina (od 2000. do 2015.). Korištenjem metode studije slučaja cilj istraživanja bio je doznati na koji način i u kojoj mjeri političke stranke u Hrvatskoj koriste sportaše u svojim parlamentarnim izbornim kampanjama. Ovaj fenomen stavljen je u kontekst sportske diplomacije i društvenih aspekata sporta te se promatrao u odnosu na već postojeća istraživanja. Analiza pet parlamentarnih izbornih kampanja pokazala je da konzervativne i demokršćanske stranke kao što je Hrvatska demokratska zajednica imaju veću sklonost prema sportašima i da su im oni donijeli pozitivne učinke pri ostvarivanju izborne pobjede. Također je istaknuto da je uloga sportaša u izbornim kampanjama usko vezana i uz vrstu stranke jer sportska potpora nije svakoj stranci donijela izborni uspjeh.This master thesis aimed to research the role of sportsmen in parliamentary election campaigns in Croatia throughout period of 15 years (from 2000 to 2015). Using case study as a method goal of this research was to find out how, on what way and to what extent political parties in Croatia use sportsmen in their parliamentary election campaigns. This phenomenon was put in context of sports diplomacy and social aspects of sport and was examined in relation to existing researches. Analysis of five parliamentary election campaigns showed that conservative parities as Croatian Democratic Union have greater tendency towards sportsmen who brought them positive effects in winning respective elections. Moreover, it was stressed that role of sportsmen in election campaigns is narrowly connection to type of party because not all parties have reached election success with sports sustention